Question: Replacing a defunct PTO

All but one of the officers of our previous PTO are no longer parents at our school, and no new officers were elected. We are having trouble getting the information about the PTO. This orginization never functioned well. We are considering creating a new orginization as the old PTO has little to no assets and no current members. Is the best course of action or should we try to revive the old orginization?

Asked by jaybyrd

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
Your situation is fairly common. A group of parents runs the PTO for several years. Eventually they move on to a new school, but they haven't done anything about recruiting/training people to take their place. So the PTO is more or less nonexistent until someone is interested enough to get it going again. I don't think you need to start a new organization. Just get a group of parents together and take over the existing one. Hold a "special election" and fill the vacant offices. You can even write new bylaws, if you'd like. If you're bringing new energy and new direction to the existing PTO, I don't think you'll have trouble convincing parents that your group is "as good as new." Good luck!